Rat guard



Oct. 10,V 1950 f G. MUcKE RAT GUARD Filed S'ept. 15, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 32 33 w 30 23 40 www 2526 Fig. 3.

Inventor George Mucke G. MUCKE Oct. l0, 1950 RAT GUARD Filed Sept'. l5, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 George Mucke @mmh Patented Oct. 10, 1950 UNITED STATES orifice RAT GUARD George Mucke, Baldwin, N. Y.

Application September 15, 1947, Serial No. 774,157

4 Claims.` Y 1 This invention relates to new and luseful improvements and structural refinements in` rat guards, more specifically, rat guards orshields such as are usually applied to hawsers to prevent rats and other rodents from leaving or boarding a ship in dock, and the principal object of, the invention is to provide a rat guard of the character herein described which may be quickly and easily applied to the hawser and which may be removed therefrom with equal expediency,

A further object of the invention is to provide a rat guard which includes in its construction a hawser gripping means, so that the guard may be iirmly and rigidly secured at any desired point on the length of the hawser. v Y

Another object of the invention is to provide a rat guard which is simple in construction, which will not easily become damaged, and which will readily lend itself to economical manufacture.

With the above more importantrobjects in view and such other objects as may become apparent as this speciiication proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement and oonstru-ction oiparts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is an elevational View of the invention, showing the same in position on a hawser, the same being taken in a direction of the arrow I in Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the subject shown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross sectional View, taken substantially in the plane of the line 3 3 in Figure l;`

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the invention;

Figure 5 is a cross sectional View, taken substantially in the plane of the line 5 5 in Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is an elevational View showing a modined pair of gripping jaws, such as may be effectively employed in the invention.

Like characters of reference are used to designate like parts in the specification vand through out the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the invention consists of a rat guard designated generally by the reference character ill, the same being adapted for positioning upon a hawser l i and embodying in its construction a substantially frusto-conical shield I2 which is formed at the minor end thereof with a concentric opening i3 adapted to slidably receive the hawser.

in order to prevent the edges of the opening l 3 from chafng or otherwise damaging the hawser, the shield i2 is provided in the opening I3 thereof with an annular protecting member M, which may be formed from leather, rubber, or similar material.

It Vwill be also noted that the shield l2 is formed with what may be called a radially extending slot l5 which communicatesv with the opening i3, whereby the shield assumes a certain amount of ldexibility, as it were, so that the hawser may be inserted in the opening I3 through the slot I5 by simply twisting or spreading apart the slotted edge portion of the shield, as will be clearly understood. In this manner, it is not necessary to thread the hawser through the opening i3 during installation or removal` Means are provided for releasably securing together the slotted edge portions of the shield, said means consisting of a clamping screw I5 provided with a wing nut Il', the screw it extending through one of the slotted edge portions i3 of the shield i2 and being receivable in an arcuate slot i9 formed in the remaining edge portion 2), when the two edge portions are drawn together. Means are also provided at the circumferential edge of the shield l2 for retaining the two edge portions i3, 26 in alignment, said means consisting of an arcuate edge portion 2l forming what may be called a channel in which the edge portion 2E! is removably receivable. The channel 2i is provided, of course, on the edge portion It, as is best shown in Figure 4.

The essence of the invention resides in the provision of the particular means for releasably gripping the hawser Il, said means including a substantially semi-tubular member 22 formed integrally with an angulated strap 23 which is rigidly secured to the shield I2 by means of the bolt and wing nut assemblies 2i. A stiffener plate 25, contigui-ated substantially as shown, eX- tends partially around the opening I3 and underlies the strap 23, being secured in position by one of the bolt and wing nut assemblies 2i. The member 22 is substantially parallel to the axis of the shield l2 (and also to the axis of the hawser il), and a pair of laterally projecting wings 2B are formed integrally with the member 22, the.

wings 2t being provided with arcuate or rounded end edges 2l which are adapted to engage the inner surface of the shield I2 and thereby assist in maintaining the member 22 in a substantially parallel position, so that it is in contact with the hawser II, This contact of the member 22 with the hawser will be maintained regardless of the diameter of the hawser, and in order to facilitate the use of the invention on hawsers of exceptionally large or of exceptionally small diameters, the aforementioned strap 23 is formed with a plu- Xalty o apertures 28 in which the bolt assemblies 24 are selectively receivable. Accordingly, by engaging the bolts 24 with the various apertures 28, the position of the member 22 with respect to the axis of the shield (and of the hawser) may be varied as desired.

A resilient member 29 consists of a wire rod which is doubled upon itself, so to speak, so as to provide a pair of normally divergent arms 30 which are connected together at one end by a transversely extending portion 3| which is rotatably journaled in a tubular sleeve 32 formed at one end of the aforementioned strap 23. The arms 32 are arcuated to form a double coil 33 and extend toward the axis of the shield I2, that is, toward the hawser Il, the divergent end portions of the arms being angulated toward each other as indicated at 34, whereupon they are arcuated to provide a pair of coacting jaws 35.

It will be noted that the portions 34 are disposed in a substantially parallel relation, and it should be understood that the resiliency of the member 29 is such that the jaws 35 are normally urged apart, that is, away from the hawser II. However, by spreading the arms 30 apart, the jaws 35 may be closed as at 36 into frictional engagement with the hawser.

The jaws 35 may be covered with arcuate tubes 31 of suitable protective material, such as rubber or the like, so as to prevent the hawser from being marred or otherwise damaged. A suitable spring clip 38 is secured to the member 22, as at 39, the clip 38 functioning as a keeper, as it were, in preventing displacement of the portions 34, but these portions, of course are longitudinally slidable in the clip, to facilitate opening and closing of the jaws.

The jaws 35 are maintained in frictional engagement with the hawser by means of a keeper 40, this simply consisting of a strip of material secured at one end thereof to one of the arms 30, while its remaining end portion forms a detent 4| which releasably engages the remaining arm. The mid portion of the strip is arcuated to form a guide 42, and a tag line 43, such as is usually employed with rat guards of conventional design, passes over the guide 42 and is secured to the extremity of the member 22, as at 44.

When the invention is placed in use, the shield I2 is applied to the hawser Il, as has been already described. When so applied, the keeper 40, engaging both of the arms 30, will retain the jaws 35 in frictional engagement with the hawser and sliding of the guard on the hawser will be prevented.

When it is reduired to remove the guard from the hawser, it is only necessary to pull the tag line 43 in the direction of the arrow 45, during which action the detent 4l will be disengaged from the member 29 and the arms 30, by virtue of the resilient coil 33, will open the jaws 35, thereby releasing the grip of the jaws upon the hawser so that the entire guard may be pulled upwardly aboard the vessel by exerting additional pull on the line 43.

The accompanying Figure 6 illustrates a modified embodiment of the resilient member used in the invention, the same being designated generally by the reference character 48 and being an equivalent of the aforementioned member 29.

The member 48 is similar in all respects to the member 29, with exception that the iaws 49 thereof are covered with a plurality of spheres or beads 50 which engage the hawser and thereby prevent marring or other form of damage to the latter.

It is believed thatl the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly understood from the foregoing disclosure, and accordingly, further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a rat guard, the combination of a shield formed with an opening adapted to slidably receive a hawser, a plurality of openable and closable jaws on said shield, resilient means for opening said jaws, releasable keeper means for retaining said jaws in the closed position, and remotely controlled means for releasing said keeper means to facilitate opening of said jaws by said resilient means.

2. A rat guard comprising in combination, a shield formed with an opening adapted to slidably receive a hawser, a resilient member attached to said shield and including a pair of divergent arms, a pair of coacting gripping jaws provided on said arms, a keeper on said member for normally retaining said jaws in engagement with a hawser, and remotely controlled means for disengaging said keeper from said member to facilitate opening of said jaws.

3. A rat guard comprising in combination, a substantially frusto-conical shield formed in the minor end thereof with an opening adapted to slidably receive a hawser, a resilient member comprising a wire rod doubled intermediate its end and secured at the doubled portion thereof to the inner surface of said shield, said rod providing a pair of arms extending toward the axis of said shield in a mutually divergent relation, the divergent end portions of said arms being angulated to extend toward and beyond each other and terminating in a pair of coacting, arcuate jaws, a keeper on said member for normally retaining said jaws in engagement with a hawser, and remotely controlled means for disengaging said keeper from said member to facilitate opening of said jaws.

4. The device as defined in claim 3 together with a hawser engaging member attached to the inner surface of said shield and extending substantially parallel to the axis thereof, said remotely controlled means including a tag line passing over said keeper, one end of said tag line being secured to said member.

GEORGE MUCKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UN'ITED STATES PATENTS 

